Rs 41.2 cr fine on SCCL for green violations

Khammam: The National Green Tribunal (NGT) Southern Zone, Chennai, has directed Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) to pay a whopping Rs 41.21 crore as environmental compensation for excess mining done at its Jalagam Vengalrao (JVR ) open cast mines at Sathupalli in the district.

In an order on Friday, the tribunal chaired by Judicial member Justice K Ramakrishnan and expert member Dr Satyagopal Korlapati directed the SCCL to pay the compensation to Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB) within a period of three months.

The TSPCB was directed to take steps to recover the amount from the SCCL by requesting the District Collector to initiate revenue recovery proceedings, if the amount is not paid within time.

The order was issued while disposing of the applications filed by the residents of Sathupalli Banothu Nandu Nayak and Oggu Srinivasa Reddy and based on the finding of a joint committee constituted by the NGT to look into the complaints made against the SCCL by the complainants.

The complainants alleged that because of the SCCL's mining and blasting activities, the houses in the villages in the vicinity of the OC projects suffered damages and environmental pollution was also caused in the area.

The expanded project could be permitted to be carried out by the SCCL after complying with the directions issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) after depositing the amount as directed by the NGT as compensation for excess mining done over and above the permitted quantity mentioned in the EC earlier granted, the order said.

The order said that considering the period of violation of 11 years, 10 per cent of the profit Rs 588.60 crore earned by the company i.e., Rs 58.86 crore has to be paid as the compensation for excess mining at JVR OC-I and OC-II (expansion project) while deducting Rs.17.65 crore for utilising for remediation purpose.

Further, the NGT directed the TSPCB in consultation with the District Collector to identify the persons whose houses have been damaged. A Joint Committee had found certain houses partially damaged due to the vibrations caused by the blasting operations during the initial stages and the amount required for repairing the houses would have to be quantified and the same should be realised from SCCL.